Jay Z pulls his music from Spotify and Apple Music to raise appeal of Tidal
Jay Z is looking to raise the appeal of his music streaming platform Tidal by pulling his back catalogue from rivals Apple Music and Spotify.
Jay Z has bolstered the appeal of Tidal
There’s been no announcement from the artist around the move but it can serve only to draw attention to his struggling service – at the risk of losing millions of listeners on his music.
Spotify admitted the music was removed at the request of the artist, likely as Jay Z attempts to strengthen the appeal of Tidal with the exclusivity as the Swedish market leader primes its own Hi-Fi music tier that will eradicate Tidal’s unique selling point.
Tidal has had issues with reporting how many subscribers it has. The company has leveraged exclusive launches with the likes of Beyoncé's Lemonade aiding downloads in 2016. Furthermore, Kanye West’s Life of Pablo reportedly aiding growth to a supposed and contested three million subscribers.
Nonetheless, Spotify is reportedly north of 50m paid subscribers, not counting users on its ad-supported free tier.
There is light at the end of the tunnel for Tidal - Telecom firm Sprint has a 33% stake in the company, opening the music streaming service up to the company's 45m users.